Right to self-determination and land rights must be central in struggle for a Just Recovery

Abstract

The Army Welfare Trust and the Sikder Group, a family-owned business conglomerate with global investments, are planning to develop a 5-star resort and amusement park in Bangladesh. This proposed development threatens the ancestral land of the Mro Indigenous Peoples. The Army Welfare Trust and the Sikder Group did not organise consultations or obtain consent from those affected. If this project goes ahead, at least 10,000 Mro Indigenous farmers/cultivators will be at risk of eviction and displacement. Human rights organisations and UN experts have joined the call of the Mro Indigenous Peoples to halt this project and uphold human rights and environmental well-being over corporate profits. However, the Mro Indigenous Peoples remain at serious risk. And they are not alone.